Our hearts are burdened. As I have met you, my friends, from time to time, and gazed into the depths of your eyes, and gazed deeper into your hearts, I have felt that your hearts are burdened. Today, I wish to say this to you: — why have you clung to your burdens all these years? Drop them! All you have to do is to turn to the beauteous face of him whose word comes floating to us across the centuries: — “I shall liberate you from all bondage to suffering and sin! I shall lift up all your burdens! I shall give you the rest, which your restless hearts seek!”
There is an amusing little story told us concerning a villager, who travelled by the railway train for the first time. When he purchased his ticket, he was told that he would be allowed to carry only 20 kilos of luggage. He had with himself 30 kilos. What did he do? Part of the luggage, which weighed 20 kilos, he kept on the floor of the compartment, and the balance he carried on his head. There he sat on the bench in the railway compartment, bearing 10 kilos of luggage on his head. After sometime, the TTE (the travelling ticket-examiner) entered the compartment and was surprised to find the villager carrying the load on his head. Asked the reason, the villager said: — “Sir! I am permitted to carry only 20 kilos: that much luggage I have kept on the floor, the remaining ten kilos I am carrying on my head!” The TTE was amused. He said to the villager: — “Don’t you know that you and all your luggage are being pulled by the railway engine? Whether you keep the luggage on the floor or carry it on your head, the burden is ultimately borne by the engine. You will have to pay for the excess ten kilos of luggage!”
Comments